Projects & Consultancy
The Winter School Middle East
2007 - OngoingThe Winter School Middle East is a localized, small-scale hub, which regularly performs cultural and educational activities in collaboration with local NGOs, schools, and individuals, and -– through its new, long-term presence – houses a critical platform for exchange.
The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict
2011The applied research project and forthcoming publication “The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict”, based at the University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe (HfG) in cooperation with Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design Geneva (HEAD), is dealing with archival practice and its spatial repercussions.
Scaffolding of Contrition
February 7 - 25, 2011Programming, as a term for architecture, refers to the a priori designation of the use and activity within a negotiated space. Structures have been based on programs since the emergence of built space.
Dewaniya: Architectural Space of Political Exchange
December 2 2010 to January 10, 2011The exhibition Dewaniya: Architectural Space of Political Exchange, a research project by Joseph Grima and Markus Miessen, will be on display at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University from December 2 2010 to January 10, 2011; Filmography by Elian Stefa.
Actors, Agents and Attendants
October 29 and 30th October 2010The symposium Actors, Agents and Attendants connected contemporary debates about care and citizenship in contemporary art, philosophy and politics to realities of healthcare organisation in The Netherlands and internationally.
Manifesta 8 | Backbench
2010nOffice have been invited to design one of the main venues for Manifesta 8 Biennial in Murcia. After being closed for over 30 years, the former post office of Murcia was rethought and refurbished by nOffice in order to open its doors once again, and this time for Manifesta 8.
International Chilliwack Biennial
July 28 - July 29, 2010The International Chilliwack Biennial took place July 28 and 29, 2010, at the Delta Grove campsite of Cultus Lake Provincial Park near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. The event was an open question on large-scale exhibitions and took a consciously precarious approach.
Performa Hub
2009For the Ground Floor space of the new Cooper Union’s building on Cooper Square, the Berlin-based architectural practice nOffice/Studio Miessen have been commissioned by RoseLee Goldberg/ Performa to design and construct a symbiosis of Performa’s central hub and a pavilion in which nOffice will broadcast an architectural statement.
Art Basel Statements
2009/10Das Kunstjahr ist vorbei, aber für eine Pause ist kaum Zeit. Nach sämtlichen Biennalen, Kunstmessen, kulturellen Veranstaltungen und Ausstellungen erwartet die Art Basel als führende globale Kunstmesse die nächsten Besucherströme. Das neue Jahr hat begonnen und die Messen und Biennalen werden in diesem Jahr die globalen Kunstnomaden wieder um den Erdball führen.
Portscapes
2009Portscapes involves artists from The Netherlands, China, Mexico, Austria and the United States. By creating events varied in scale, temporary art works, performances, excursions and screenings in the port area, for example, Portscapes will evolve as a kind of cultural guidebook to the port area, focusing on the future and Maasvlakte 2.
Closed Waters
2009The Freedom of the Sea (Mare Liberum, 1609) is a book on international law written by the Dutch jurist and philosopher Hugo Grotius, formulating the new principle that the sea was international territory and all nations were free to use it for seafaring trade.
Dubai Düsseldorf
2009For the last years, Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has pursued a simple goal: to become number one in everything. Dubai would get the world’s biggest cargo port, the world’s tallest skyscraper, the world’s largest airport…
Archive Kabinett
2009Archive Kabinett’s purpose is to create a space where to experiment with formats and concepts related to the field of publishing, to stimulate a challenging collaboration between artists, writers and curators while exploring their roles.
Duas Barras – Brazil
2008The project comprises 40 villas, a hotel, and a stand-alone destination of programmatic elements yet to be defined. Of primary importance to the client is the creation of place.
East Coast Europe
2008The title “East Coast Europe” is a word play. “Europe” in the title is the central topic for investigation, its contemporary culture, expansion, and its status as a continuing social project. “East Coast” refers to two distinct edges of Europe, both real and imaginary…
Credit Suisse – Art & Entrepreneurship
March 12, 2008Credit Suisse launches its “Art & Entrepreneurship” exhibition tour at Art Dubai, featuring a new generation of 19 successful artists from around the globe. The exhibition contains unique pieces of art, which are all based on the theme of entrepreneurship…
Urban Jealousy the 1st International Roaming Biennial of Tehran
30th May - 6th July 2008The theme of this biennial is URBAN JEALOUSY. A Jalousie * (“jealousy” in French) is a window that one can see through but not be seen; barriers that allow us to observe the world without being invited to the table.
The Great Pyramid
2008Contemporary societies still focus on the cult of the youth, yet slowly but inevitably the discourse is acknowledging the demographic facts of the aging population. The new question is: How does a society react to a reality in which age and death shift into its centre?
Skills Exchange at the Serpentine Gallery
2007With a view to encouraging intergenerational collaboration and dialogue, and the development of creative activities that are both stimulating and challenging, Skills Exchange will bring together age and experience with youth and ambition by fostering relationships between older people and artists, writers, designers and architects.
European Kunsthalle, Cologne
2005 – 2007The project Spaces of Production that has been integrated into the foundation phase of the European Kunsthalle explores the spatial conditions and potential of Cologne as well as in other urban situations in Europe.
The Violence of Participation
2007Is Europe a place, a space, or a temporary community of shared interests? As a political space, Europe is as conflictual as its debated constitution. It is a construct that must be continuously negotiated…
Host Not Found: A Traveling Monument to the Suppression of Search
2007As a mobile entity, the monument travels alongside the conferences organized by ITU and is installed on both the facade of conference facilities, as well as the interior spaces of the proceedings.
NHS SLAM – Mental Health Ward
2006Miessen and Murphy set up a working relationship with two Mental Health wards in London, trying to understand the realities and needs in terms of design in a specific situation. The main emphasis in this scenario was focusing on low-budget, easy to introduce designs that would change existing physical conditions and deliver measurable benefits to both patients and staff.
43b Bar at Max Wigram Gallery
2006During the course of the Max Wigram Gallery move in summer 2006, the East London gallery (43b Mitchell Street, EC1) remained unoccupied for three months, before being returned to the landlord.
The Momental
2006What is an institution today?
Does it have to be physical?
Can it be temporary, ephemeral, re-occurring, or invisible?
Pyongyang: Rules of Engagement
2006Being on the ‘Axis of Evil’ equates North Korea with ‘pariah’ status. For now. Today’s pariah state is tomorrow’s heroic paradigm of ideological resistance.
General Public Agency
2005As a spatial consultant and researcher, Markus Miessen has worked on a variety of projects for General Public Agency in London.
Walsall Council: An Urban Line
2005It is our believe that a building itself will not deliver such ambition. We are interested in ways of triggering social interaction in order to stimulate a potential market: a clientele that engages with the site as a piece of public space and therefore starts to identify with it.
Substitune®
2004As a reaction to the ongoing redevelopment of London’s King’s Cross interchange, the introduction of a service-interface attempts to create an economically independent health service, which operates autonomously from Borough-specific National Health Service (NHS) funding.
Spaces of Uncertainty
2003Spaces of Uncertainty is a collaborative of two architects, Kenny Cupers and Markus Miessen, working at different institutions and locations. Moving between urbanism, sociology and the visual arts, this project presented urban research and a photographic essay on the life of leftover spaces in Berlin.